Strawberry no Dearest
by recchinon
Summary: Everybody thought that Orihime and Uryu would become a couple it was just a matter of time. Orihime kept hearing people saying that Uryu has a thing for her and decided to confess. But what if they were wrong and Uryu turned her down? To make it worse, Ichigo Kurosaki, the school's infamous punk accidentally listened to the whole thing?
1. 0: The Girl who Got her Heart Broken

Summary:

Everybody thought that Orihime and Uryu would become a couple it was just a matter of time. Orihime kept hearing people saying that Uryu has a thing for her and decided to confess. But what if they were wrong and Uryu turned her down? To make it worse, Ichigo Kurosaki, the school's infamous punk accidentally listened to the whole thing?

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PROLOGUE:

The Girl who Got her Heart Broken

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"He likes you. He must be in love with you."

Tatsuki Arisawa wiped the sweat on her forehead with the clean towel her auburn haired bestfriend brought her. It was during her Karate club activity when she saw her beautiful friend's pumpkin head popped at the dojo's door. Being the vice captain who was stronger than most male in their club, Tatsuki took a break from her kata practice to see her friend. From her face alone, Tatsuki could guess what she wanted to talk about.

It was not hard to read what was in Orihime Inoue's head. You didn't have to be Tatsuki to guess what she was thinking at the time. The way she chewed her own lip or hpw she avoided eye contact, Orihime could never lie, and this was one of so many reasons why the black belt karateka loves her so much and promised to protect her no matter what.

"B-but... Maybe he just thinks of me as his vice captain... We never spend much time together except for the club activities..."

Tatsuki snorted. The club she was talking about was the unpopular sewing club, and the man she mentioned was Uryu Ishida, the so called club captain. Tatsuki was also in the same class with Uryu and Orihime and she knew some girls who seemed to idolize the boy but still, the tomboy didn't understand why Orihime would fall for someone like him. In her opinion, Orihime deserved the best guy for her, but still she just wanted her to be happy and if being with the dark haired skinny guy would make her happy then she would do nothing but support her. Besides, why would anyone turn down a girl like her? Look at her. Orihime had the body, beauty, and brain. She was a little clumsy but it didn't matter because she was still so attractive no matter what. Orihime was oblivious about it but Tatsuki know that more than half of the male population in their school were crazy about her. It was not surprising though since Orihime has the body of the goddess and her clumsy behavious could be often mistaken as cute. Uryu Ishida, the smartest student in their school was lucky because the so called school idol had her eyes on him. Tatsuki couldn't find any reason why he would reject her friend.

"C'mon, you know it is not right," Tatsuki frowned, "you guys spend time together studying in the library sometime, don't you?"

Orihime's face turned red as she shook her head shyly, "but we were just studying... It shouldn't be counted..."

"Really?" Tatsuki lifted her brow, "our school library is almost always empty you know... Maybe something had happened between you two when you were studying together..."

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime hissed, her face was now rivalling her hair, "no such a thing happened... Ishida-kun always so concentrated on his study...""

Tatsuki couldn't believe that a guy could ignore Orihime, especially when he had her for himself in an empty library, but then again, she couldn't guess when it comes to her class representative. He was not easy to figure out.

"Well, however," Tatsuki nodded at the captain who gave a sign for her to continue her kata practice, before she turned to Orihime and gave her a serious look, "you should confess to him, okay... I believe he would give you an OK."

Before Orihime could protest Tatsuki had jogged back to her captain who scold her for ditching the practice to have a chit chat. Orihime sighed as she turned to leave. Confessing, huh? She had considered about it for some time now but somehow she had no confidence to do it. She was not stupid. She could hear how people gossiping about her and the dark haired boy. Even her girl friends was so sure that Uryu Ishida had a thing for her. It was the way he looked at her, said Mahana, though Orihime didn't know how he looked at her. She didn't want to get her head big just because people kept telling her that he definitely likes her, but she did find a little more courage to confess now, especially after she talked to Tatsuki just now. Besides, Uryu was really kind to her, so event if he turned her down, he would still act like usual with her after the confession, wouldn't he?

Orihime balled her hands, she had decided. Yes, she would confess.

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"I like you."

Ichigo Kurosaki blinked. He shifted a little from his current position. The perpetual scowl deepened in curiousity. He rubber his chin thoughtfully, he knew this girl. She was in the same class with him, though naturally, he had never talked to her. Her face was half hidden under her bang but he could see, somehow, that she was blushing.

"I..." she bit her lip as she tried to find the right word, "I have been liking you for a while now..."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, from his position, he couldn't see the guy's face but he had an idea who it was. Black hair, tall and skinny, that gesture to fix his glass. It was zuryu Ishida, another guy from his class. Ichigo was a little surprised though, he had heard some rumor saying those two were dating, but it seemed like the rumor was not true after all.

He wasn't interested in the rumors around the school, but he couldn't help but to feel slightly interested in the situation. He was from the same Junior High school with Uryu Ishida, infact, his mother was actually Uryu's father's cousin, he knew that the boy was pretty popular amongst the girl, but he didn't understand why. He knew that Uryu was smart but he looked so boring, always obeying the rules. But he guessed, the girls liked this kind of boy? Even the school idol, Orihime Inoue, liked him.

Ichigo shifted a little from his position on the tree, careful not to make much noise. It would be awkward if those two realized that he had been there the whole time. Uryu hated Ichigo and he returned the sentiment, they knew each other for so long yet they couldn't get along well. If he knew Ichigo were eavesdropping his private moment, Ichigo was sure Uryu would do something annoying to pay back.

"Inoue-san," Ichigo tensed when finally his cousin openee his mouth. Oh well he wasn't really interested or something but for a reason, he felt nervous waiting for his answer. The girl must have been feeling even worse, he realized, "I appreciate your feeling, but I am so sorry. I cannot accept your feeling."

The girl gasped. For few seconds it looked almost like she would cry but she quickly covered it with a smile. She shook her head and laughed nervously, "Oh, it's okay, don't worry. I-i just... I want you to know. I am sorry that I have called you to this place..."

Then she bowed deeply.

Uryu returned her bow before he turned and left the still bowing girl. Ichigo couldn't see her face but he somehow saw her shaking shoulders after he was gone. Well, it couldn't be helped. Ichigo had never been confessed to but he guessed there was no better way to reject a girl's feeling. If you didn't feel the same you shouldn't agree to go out with them right?

Ichigo scratched his cheek with one finger. The girl was sobbing down there and he felt awkward up there just listening to her small sobs. He hated when girls started crying, well at least she cried because she thought that she was alone at the time.

The orange haired boy put his hand into his pocket. Suddenly he remembered that this morning his sister made him bring his kerchief with him. He wondered if this were the right thing to do for a moment but then decided that he didn't give a damn. Slowly he moved a little so he was right above the girl. He frowned when he saw her wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

With a frown on his face Ichigo dropped the handkerchief on her head.

Orihime startled when she felt something on her head and found a kerchief on her looked around nervously while clutching the plain white kerchief with both hands.

_Stupid, I am up there. _Ichigo thought amusedly when the girl now looked at his kerchief and sniffed it. The boy rolled his hazelnut eyes, _what are you? A dog?_

Orihime let out a soft giggled as she used the kerchief to wipe her tears. For a weird reason, she felt a bit better now.

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"Your eyes look red. Are you okay?"

"Ah yeah, I was crying whole night reading some manga," a giggle, "don't worry about me."

She was a terrible liar.

Ichigo Kurosaki didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't supposed to eavesdrop the girls. Lately, it had become a habit, apparently. He was using his arms as a pillow as he tried to sleep at his table. The first period was empty and he didn't want to listen to whatever his noisy friend was telling him so he pretended to sleep just so he would stop talking, but a somehow familiar feminine voice had his attention. He wonder since when had he recognized her voice.

Ichigo frowned, it seemed like her friends hadn't known about the confession. He wondered of Orihime planned to hide the fact that yesterday afterschool she had confessed to one of their classmate and got turned down right away. Well it wasn't his business but for a reason he didnt know, he was... Interested? Well that wasn't really the word but for now, maybe thats the only word he could find to describe it. Ichigo was never a busybody or nosy, nor ever had he been interested in something like this, but here he was, eavesdropping the girls conversation while trying so hard to look indifferent in his seat.

"By the way, I haven't seen Ishida since this morning," The girl named Ryo pointed out as she looked around the classroom, "yep, he isn't here. How unusual for our class representative to be this late."

Mahana shrugged, "maybe he won't go to school today?"

Ichigo tilted his head a little as he heard a soft chuckled from a certain auburn haired classmate of his. Orihime shook her head gently as she tried to explain, "Ishida-kun has a meeting this morning with the other student committee about the school festival, it's next month, remember?"

Tatsuki who was busy working on her unfinished homework grunted, "school festival is stupid. I hope our class wouldn't come out with stupid ideas."

"Our class in junior high school decided to mix maid cafe and haunted house," Orihime tried to explain, "so it became haunted cafe."

Mahana laughed, "that sounds absurd!"

Ichigo was still tilting his head when Keigo started to complained because nobody listened to him. He started to grab Ichigo's collar and shook him while whining annoyingly, "Ichigooooooo are you listening? I am talking to you!"

"Shut up!" Ichigo grunted, "You're so noisy!"

"How meaaaaniee..."

Ichigo tried to shove him away from him. Annoyed by the whining and half worried that it would attract the other's eyes to him. He was still struggling to push the annoying friend away from him when his eyes met a pair of big grey orbs.

Ichigo gulped.

The girl did have red puffy eyes. Did she really cry the whole night? Had Uryu really broken her heart that badly?

As if she could read what was in his mind, the girl smile at him. Just a simple gentle smile but Ichigo could feel his cheek burnt and, God damn it, turned red.

God. Damn. It.

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"So he turned you down?"

Orihime told her bestfriend about her confession later that day on their way home. Actually she didn't want to tell her, not yet, but her friend was smart enough to see how she had been avoiding Uryu's eyes earlier today when he talked to her about their club activity. Uryu was indifferent but he was always like that, calm and cool headed while Orihime, in the other hand, was not too goodat hiding something. It wasn't difficult for Tatsuki to understand the situation. She just needed the detail.

The girl nodded shyly, tried to smile as her friend looked somewhat furious, "I am ojay, don't worry, at least Ishida-kun doesn't ignore me and treat me like usual, isn't that good?"

Tatsuki clenched her teeth, she was so sure that the dark haired guy was in love with her best friend, "did he tell you the reason?"

Orihime shook his head, "No."

Tatsuki frowned, "did you tell him why do you like him?"

Orihime blushed at this question then quickly shook her head, "he wouldn't remember such a thing... I..." She looked at Tatsuki sheepishly, "Do you think I have to?"

The karateka sighed, her bestfriend could be really clueless sometime, "I think you should tell him. I think he deserves to know."

Orihime thought for a moment and nodded. She was right. Uryu had the right to know about the reason why she fell in love with him.

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/next chapter 1: "The Boy who Got his Heart Stolen"

AUTHOR's NOTE:

New story from me. I am working on so many new stories right now and dont know which one to update first. I feel bad because I am working on so many things at the same time, it makes me hard to focus. As you can see, I am a cosplayer and illustrator so I have other things to work on to aside from my fanfics... (you can see my works in deviantart username: recchinon (for cosplay) and recchika (for artworks)

Now talk about this story, I think it is refreshing to write a teenage love comedy once in a while. I wrote this before I finished After School but when I post this, I already finish the last chapter of After School.

I like this fic so I hope you guys would enjoy this. Slight IshiHime but dont worry because you know how I am a sucker for IchiHime. :))


	2. 1: The Boy who Got his Heart Stolen

Chapter 1

The Boy who Got His Heart Stolen

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When Orihime was a baby, her parents abused her. Her parents would hit her when she cried and almost killed her if only her older brother who was still a teenager at the time didn't take her with him and ran away from their home. She never missed her parents, she didn't even remember much about them. Her brother started working and acted as her guardian. He was still young but he worked so hard for her. He was the one who made bentos for her, the one who braided her hair and the one who tucked her before she slept at night. For her, Sora Inoue was not only an older brother but also a father and he meant everything for her.

When she was in junior high school, far before she met Tatsuki, Orihime had been bullied by the girl in her class. They kicked her, cut her hair, and called her names. She cried almost everyday, wondering what she had done wrong that made those girls hated her so much. And then during those days, she started to loathe herself, started to hide things from her brother. She lost her smile and it made Sora felt sad. He wanted her to be her old self, smiling and be happy, but Orihime would keep on crying and shut her self from other people including her brother.

That morning, he asked her what had happened to her but she didn't answer him. She refused to smile at him when he left for work that day, unaware that it was the last time she could see her beloved brother alive. That day, the rain just wouldn't stop and that evening, when he walked home from work, still worrying about his only sister, a car hit him. Sora Kurosaki died in the age of twenty eight yearold and Orihime lost her last chance to smile at least for the last time for him.

After that, Orihime met Tatsuki and she decided that she would never cry anymore. Not in front of anyone. No more a crybaby, she promised that she would be strong and kept on smiling no matter what. It has been almost three years since that day and she had broke her promise few nights ago, thanks to a certain dark haired man.

When Orihime arived in the hospital, her brother had passed away. She cried alone in the corridor of the hospital while the paramedics cleaned her brother's body. That was when she met Uryu Ishida for the first time.

Of course, said boy didn't remember about it.

* * *

Orihime looked at the man in front of her with a lot of things in her head. She tapped her pointy chin as she wondered if he would listen to her once again. However he had turned her down once, what if he thought she was being too persistent? Orihime chewed her lower lip, another habit which made Tatsuki scolded her sometimes. She didn't want to be persistent but Tatsuki was right, Uryu had a right to know about the reason why she liked him. She did, after all, not telling him anything except that she liked him last time. Maybe he just thought that she was a weird woman...

"Is there something on my face, Inoue-san?"

Orihime startled from her day dream and blink few times when a pair of dark brown eyes looked into her grey ones. She blushed when she realized that she had been staring at Uryu's face this whole time. She could hear the other club members chuckled at this, making the girl felt more embarrassed.

"No... I just..." she blurted out, "do you have time after club?"

Uryu blinked. He paused from his previous activity, cutting the pattern on the fabric. The other members were silent too, looking at Orihime in a disbelieving look. Was she asking him for a date?

Orihime could hear some murmur from the other side of their club room, she quickly added to explain, "I need to talk to you, mmm... You know, privately?"

Without she realized it, her words just make it worse. The assumption about what had been going on between two of them had gone wild even before this and now, just like fueling the fire, Orihime had made the situation gone even more wrong. When she realized what she had done, Orihime felt like kicking her own self for being so stupid. She couldn't meet Uryu's eyes now, she was afraid thay she had made him angry or something, but after few seconds, Uryu finally said something.

"Sure." he said calmly, continued working on the fabric, "now can we all focus on our work once more?"

Of course it wasn't easy to focus on whatever thing she was doing after she said what she had said. Orihime looked at the footless lion plushie in her table. She could hear some upperclassmen who were also the club member giggled from the table behind her. Sure they didn't have any idea that Orihime had been rejected by the only man in their club few days ago. Nobody would have guessed. After all, they all believed that the feeling was mutual, moreover some of them believed that they both had already been dating each other secretly.

Too bad they were all wrong.

Orihime had no idea about dating or going out with someone. Even when she confessed to Uryu she hadn't really thought about what would happen after that, if he accepted her feeling. Going out was not something familiar to her. And the thought of her going out with Uryu... Holding hand together in a park, she would wear a white sun dress and he would wear a white legging just like those princes in the fairy tales...

Suddenly she remembered something. The princess pulled out a simple plain white kerchief from her pocket. She had washed it and iron it, in case she found the owner, she could return it and thank them for the handkerchief. She didn't know whose kerchief it is but perhaps they overheard her confession that time and saw her crying... Embarrassing. Orihime pouted. The thought of someone saw her crying made her feeling nervous. She had been trying not to cry in front of anybody for these past three years and suddenly someone had seen her crying after getting turned down...

There was a small strawberry in the corner of the kerchief, making Orihime wanted to believe that the owner of the white little thing was a girl. Maybe someone from the same year with her? Orihime wondered if they could be friend. After all, they had seen her crying... Well, that is if they didn't feel disgusted at her.

* * *

This was his favorite place. His favorite tree. There were few trees in the backyard of their school buildings but this one was his favorite so far. Ichigo spent his time on the biggest branch, reading Shakespeare after school, avoiding his annoying so called friends who tried to drag him to a goukon to get a girl, or some people from sport club who were so adamant to recruit him into their club. Nah, Ichigo didn't want to hurry to go home only to get bullied by his stupid father. He would prefer to spend his time here, on his favorite tree branch, reading his favorite book. Keigo would definitely laugh his head off if only he knew that the strawberry was a big fan of William Shakespeare.

It didn't suit his image, really he knew it already, but reading is something that he really enjoyed to do. Some people thought he enjoyed fighting just because some stupid boys from another school often challenged him and dragged him into a fight. Well, it was not their fault though to mistaken him as a punk. His facial expression and natural hair color, plus tall and muscular body which didn't suit his age, made people think that Ichigo Kurosaki was a yankee. He was not. Really, Ichigo Kurosaki was a mama boy who loves his little sisters, enjoyed Shakespeare and loved chocolate. He hated complicated things though and for a reason he despised crying woman.

For a weird reason, in this week, it has been the second time he saw a girl crying.

Same girl.

Same place.

Same reason.

Ichigo was speechless, still sitting awkwardly on his favorite branch, the girl below was hugging her knees, obviously crying. Ichigo clenched his hands. He saw everything. He had never thought that his damn cousin would be that cruel toward a girl. He knew that Uryu Ishida was annoying, he could never stand him, but to think that he could be so heartless...

_"So, what is it, Inoue-san?"_

_At the mentioned of her name by familiar voice, Ichigo opened his eyes slowly. He was trying to take a nap on the tree when his two classmates came to the school backyard, completely oblivious with his presence. Ichigo knew wondered what it was about. He knew that the girl had been turned down earlier this week by the dark haired boy. Hadn't she given up yet? He wondered what she wanted this time._

_Eavesdropping was bad but he couldn't help it._

_Ichigo held his breath, hoping that they wouldn't see him up there. It would be much more awkward if they found out he was there this whole time. Ichigo could see the girl were looking down at her shoes, avoiding Uryu's gaze. From his position, Ichigo couldn't see her expression but he could imagine how nervous she must be._

_"Umm, Ishida-kun, I... About you..." she took a deep breath, clearly nervous, Ichigo could tell from her voice, "I know you already turned me down... But I think it is necessary for me to tell you this, three years ago..."_

_"Inoue-san," Uryu's voice was stern, forcing the girl to looked up at him. He narrowed his eyes as he pushed up his glasses, somehow he looked as if he was annoyed, "I didn't want to say this but I think you didn't understand what I said few days ago... I already knew that you like me, and all the rumors about us amongst the students, I didn't want to talk about it, but I think you should know..."_

_Orihime swallowed. His eyes were so cold, so was his tone. _

_"It is annoying. Really, the rumor is really annoying and the fact that you keep on following me everywhere doesn't help at all. Please don't get me wrong, just because I was nice doesn't mean I love you or something. In fact, I don't love you. Moreover, I hate you."_

_The girl was speechless. She couldn't believe that her Ishida-kun would say something as cruel as that to her. What had she done? She knew he doesn't like her back but to say that he actually hated her was a bit... She bit her tongue so hard trying to stop the tears that were ready to fall. She thought it was enough but no, Uryu still had more to say._

_"I don't know what you see in me, and I don't really want to know." He grimmaced as he continued, "in fact, I really hate someone like you. You are so annoying. You acted nice to everyone, fake smile, tying to please everyone, what are you thinking? You think everyone likes you... People like you, I hate the most."_

_After that, the boy turned and left coolly. As if he hadn't just said something hurtful. Leaving the girl alone, still staring at her shoes. Right after he left, Orihime felt the tears started to fall on her cheeks. It hurts so bad that she almost felt numb. _

_She had been broken, twice._

Ichigo Kurosaki scratched his cheek awkwardly. He never liked to see a woman crying. Why did girls think that crying would solve their problem, Ichigo would never understand. It was annoying when they started crying for every single thing.

The boy was frowning and wondering if he should make his presence be known or not when suddenly the girl stood up and groaned loudly, surprising the boy that he almost fell of the branch he was on. She blinked when he saw the girl punched the air with a determined look in her face. She was no longer crying but he could see the wetness on her soft cheeks.

"Yosh! Uryu-kun is right!" she shouted all of sudden, confusing the boy even more, "It was none of his business, what am I thinking?" she smacked her head, literally, making the boy flinched, "He hated me... Well, of course..." she giggled, though it sounded empty, "it was my own fault. I am pretending and he knew it. I guess, it's my fault... I should have been more observant. If I knew he hated me, I wouldn't have confessed to him..." She sighed, she pulled out a white handkerchief, to wipe the tears, from her pocket, "now he must be hating me even more..."

Ichigo scowled, he couldn't understand this girl at all. He couldn't follow her logic. He was not really understand about this matter but still, shouldn't she be angrier? After all, that was quite harsh. Even him knew that telling her that he hated her was too much... So why wasn't she angry? For someone who cried easily (at least, he had seen her crying twice this week) she forgave too easily.

"Well, do you think I should apologize, Ichigo-chan?"

Ichigo almost lost his ballance. He would have certainly fallen off the tree if his reflex wasn't good enough to grab another branch nearby to support his weight. His heart beating fast as he looked at the girl with terrified look. Did she see him? How did she know he was...

"But again, he might think I am annoying even more if I still insist to talk to him, what should I do?" Ichigo narrowed his eyes to see what she was actually doing, "ne? Ichigo-chan?"

No, she wasn't talking to him. Then, whom she was talking to?

Ichigo tried to move to get a better look of the girl. Too bad, he lost his ballance and fell off the tree.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

When he slowly opened his eyes, a pair or grey orbs looked into his hazelnut ones. She looked at him with a worried look upon her face when he closed his eyes and groaned. She wondered if he hit his head too hard when he fell.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Soft. Ichigo furrowed his brows as he tried to confirm what was so soft under his head. His eyes snapped open and his face turned bright red when he remembered what had just happened and what was the thing below his head. Quickly he tried to get up but the top of his head hit her jaw, lucky she didn't bite her tongue in process.

For few seconds both orange haired high school students couldn't say anything. Both holding their jaw and head which throbbing painfully. Ichigo would never guess that a girl like her could have such a hard jaw bone.

"Y-you..." Ichigo pointed at the girl angrily, "who are you calling Ichigo-chan?!"

Orihime frowned, "you were listening?"

"Of course, I..."

Orihime waved a familiar white kerchief in front of her, small strawberry in the corner of the white fabric was mocking him. That was Ichigo-chan? He cursed mentally.

"What are you doing up there?" Orihime pouted, "you were eavesdropping?"

"No I am not!" Ichigo rebutted with red face, he pointed a finger to her "Y-you came here and cry," he skipped the part where she got rejected, "I hate cry babies!"

Orihime opened her mouth but nothing come out, she put both of her hands on her waist and puffed her cheeks childishly. Ichigo had to bit the inside of his cheek to keep a straight expression. He didn't want to admit but the girl looked so cute at the moment.

What the-

She wasn't cute, no... No ... Stupid. He shouldn't think that she was cute.

Orihime stuck her chin out, this time she folded her arms below her boobs, "I didn't mean to cry in front of you."

Ichigo opened his mouth to retort but another familiar voice was calling her name. Ichigo growled. Tatsuki Arisawa was definitely not his favorite person in this world. He didn't want to be seen by the dragon right now when he and the princess were both sitting on the ground, covered with some dirt and dry leaves. She might misunderstood the situation. Orihime took a look at him and seemed to understand what he had in his mind.

"Wait Tatsuki-chan! I am coming... Just a moment please!"

The girl stood up and using her hands to straighten her uniform and clean the dirt on her skirt. When Ichigo looked up he caught a glimp of her panties. White cotton panties with small strawberries pattern. Damn it.

Orihime looked over her shoulder and gasped.

"You must have hit your head! Your nose is bleeding!"

Ichigo blushed as he stood up and hastily left the place. Damn. It.

* * *

_"Are you okay?"_

_The girl looked up with her big grey orbs. She was alone in an empty corridor in the hospital. In front of her, standing a boy around her age, looking at her with a worried look in his dark brown eyes. His dark hair was a bit messy, but his eyes looked serious and somehow gentle. She blinked away some tears. She had never met him before._

_"My brother..." she sobbed, "he died..."_

_He sat down next to her. Rubbing under his nose, wondering what should he do. He tried to remember wnything his mother had ever told her about crying girls but alas he could never remember any advice which he could apply right now. He gulped. _

_"My father is a doctor in this hospital," he wondered if it was okay to talk about himself in this situation, "Today I visit him with my mother and sisters."_

_The girl didn't look at him and he guessed it was okay to continue. At least, he knew that she was listening._

_"When I was going to be a big brother, do you know what my mother told me about big brothers? She said that big brothers are born to protect the little ones that would be born after him. I think, your brother had protected you well and he would keep on protecting you..."_

_She looked at him and he smiled awkwardly, "He wouldn't want you to cry? Would he?"_

_To his surprised she started crying louder. Making him panicked and without thinking further he pulled her into a hug and patted her back gently. They stayed like until he forgot how long. He noticed that her autumn colored hair smelt faintly like strawberry and a little coconut milk. Almost half an hour later his parents found him half asleep with a sleeping girl on his lap. His mother giggled when he put his finger on his lips, telling his mother not to speak too loudly. His father rubbed his head proudly before he carried the girl in his strong arms, intended to move her to an empty room so she could rest better. The boy watched his father left with the girl with a worried look upon his face. _

_The boy turned to his mother when he felt a hand on his newly dyed hair, "Your teacher asked you to dye it black?"_

_He shrugged as they walked away, "they didn't believe that it was my real hair color."_

_"Want me to talk to your teacher?"_

_"It is not necessary, Mom..."_

_"Oh no... it is! I will talk to your homeroom teacher tomorrow."_

_The boy didn't protest anymore. He knew that his mother would do just like what she wanted no matter what he said. He didn't really worried about his hair color anyway, he more worried about the girl he just met earlier. He wondered if they could meet again._

_"You would meet her again, don't worry..."_

_He nodded._

_His mother was always right._

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/CHAPTER 2: The Boy and Girl in the Rumor

Author's note:

Did you see what I am doing here? Actually a little snapshot about the past should be in the next chapter but I think it is ok to post it here... I don't intent to make this fic too long. Not more than 12 chapters, perhaps...

It is hard to write Ichigo's character without being much OOC here, slight OOC is needed since it is AU but I want people to see him as Ichigo, I need him to fall in love with her for the sake of the plot but, that could make him OOC if I did it wrongly. So I hope I did it right... Uryu might seem OOC to you but I did think he is not that OOC, Uryu can be blunt too, sometime you know. I quite like his character in this fic, his role is important, of course, but some people might hate him after this...

Now I am happy if you like this story. :) review?

Love,

RECCHI


	3. 2: The Boy and Girl in the Rumor

"I saw you."

Orihime blinked at her best friend. They were having lunch in the rooftop. Orihime bit her _onigiri_ while looked at the karate girl with a confused look. They were still waiting for the other girls when Tatsuki used the chance to ask the auburn haired girl the question.

Tatsuki sighed, "the other day at the school's backyard."

Orihime swallowed and forced an awkward giggle, "eh, what?"

She didn't plan to hide anything from her best friend, besides Tatsuki had already knew about her rejected confession, but she wasn't ready to tell the girl about the second confession. She knew Tatsuki very well, if she told her what had actually happened that day—about the word Uryuu had said to her—Orihime was sure that the tomboy would find Uryuu and beat him. Orihime didn't want that happen. She would be lying if she said she wasn't hurt by Uryuu's word to reject her but however Orihime didn't have the heart to see him suffer.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes, she was sure Orihime knew what she meant, "The other day after school, you were with Ichigo right?"

Orihime tilted her head, "Eh?"

So Tatsuki didn't know? Orihime was relieved because her best friend didn't know what had happened between her and Uryuu that day. She didn't want to keep any secret from her best friend but she knew the raven haired girl might literally killed the boy if only she knew what had actually happened. Uryuu might have hurt her feeling but Orihime still didn't want him to get hurt.

"I-ichigo?"

Tatsuki sighed as she crumpled the sandwich paper wrapper with her fist, "Kurosaki Ichigo, He is in our class too."

"Aah," Orihime blushed, "You called Kurosaki-kun by his first name?"

"Well," Tatsuki eyed her best friend curiously, she knew that Orihime was hiding something from her and she would find out about it right now, "He's kind of my childhood friend, we're not that close anymore since he stopped coming to the dojo. So... What are you doing with Kurosaki Ichigo?"

Orihime chewed her lower lip. She didn't know what to say. If she told Tatsuki the truth it meant she had to tell her about Uryu as well. She wondered how should she told Tatsuki about Ichigo. She was not a good liar after all.

The karate champion let out a heavy sigh, even though she could see her friend was hiding something, somehow she didn't want to force Orihime to tell her, "Listen, I don't know about what's going on, if there's any, between you and Ichigo. But despite the popular belief, Ichigo is not a bad guy. So, I wouldn't tell you to stay away from him for I know he wasn't dangerous for you. But," she continued with a lower tone, "I would want to know if something happened between both of you, after all, you and Ishida had just..."

"Nothing! Nothing happened!" Orihime said quickly, waving her hand to deny the suggestion offered by her friend, her face was redder than tomatoes and she laughed awkwardly, "He fell off the three!"

"And what were you doing there?" Tatsuki asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing, you know I liked to wander around alone," she giggled nervously, hoping that her friend would drop off the topic, "I was trying to find a place to think, but it was actually Kurosaki-kun's favorite place..."

"So, nothing happened between you and him?"

"Nothing!" Orihime said quickly, "I swear."

Tatsuki didn't say anything as she opened the wrapper of another sandwich. She wouldn't ask anything further. She didn't believe that nothing happened though but she wouldn't cornered her best friend—not for now. After all, she wouldn't really mind if anything really happened between her bestfriend and her childhood friend in the future. As long as Orihime was happy, then she was fine with it. Ichigo was not a bad guy and she had this strange feeling that he would be a great boyfriend for Orihime, he would be able to protect her. She wouldn't tell Orihime that tough.

Orihime didn't knew what was in Tatsuki's mind at the time, she just wished that the karate champion would not find out yet about Uryuu and her. It was awkward enough to see him in the sewing club everyday after the blunt rejection, she didn't need the whole school to gossip about it. She doesn't want to make Uryuu hated her more than he already had.

She took a deep breath. If only she knew loving someone would be this hurtful.

.

"Playstation 4? That's so cool?"

The black haired boy shrugged, eyes glued on his phone, he was busy typing text message to one of his older girlfriends, "My old man won it from the _pachinko_."

"Your old man was doing _pachinko_?" The noisy boy furrowed his brows "he doesn't look like a gambler. Not like my old man who is addicted to horse race."

Mizuiro rolled his eyes, "He is not. Just once in a while. He got lucky this time, though."

Keigo grinned and clasped his hands together, "then can we play it after school?"

For the first time the shorter boy looked away from his phone, not before sending the text message, "Well, it is okay. I have no date today. But I only have two games at the moment."

"It doesn't matter!" Keigo said excitedly before turned to his other two friends, "You two have no part time today right?"

The tanned boy gave him a thumb up, "I am free."

Keigo grinned and turned to the other boy who had been silent since the lunch time, "what about you, Ichigo?"

"Huh?" Ichigo quickly turned to face his friends, clearly not listening "what did you say?"

His friends looked at each others before turned to him, Ichigo was acting unusual. The clown of the group started whining about Ichigo who would never listen to him but his tallest friend looked behind his shoulder to see what had been so interesting for Ichigo to stare this whole time. Chad's lips formed a faint smile and he sent Ichigo a knowing look. Ichigo knew what his friend meant just by that look. His face turned red and before he could defend himself, the playboy had grinned and started teasing him.

"Orihime Inoue is really beautiful, isn't she?"

"What?!" Ichigo's face was as red as tomato as he scolded his friend, "I didn't watch her having lunch with Tatsuki!"

Chad chuckled, "sure you didn't."

"Chad," Ichigo warned his friend, "I just..."

"Wow, so the rumor was true?" Keigo had stopped whining, now looking at Ichigo with a curious look.

Ichigo had a bad feeling about it, "What rumor?"

Keigo grinned, "so, this morning I heard some student talked about Orihime Inoue get confessed by someone after school in the school backyard yesterday."

"Huh?"

Keigo shrugged as he continued, "Well, Inoue get confessed quite often but... Now tell me, Ichigo, where were you going after school yesterday?"

The orange haired high school boy gulped as his friends looked at him expectantly. He was not a really good liar but he didn't think it would be wise to tell his friends about what he had been witnessing yesterday. He wondered if he could just tell his friends half of the truth. As long as he didn't have to tell them the whole story maybe it would be okay.

He sighed, "I went to the school backyard."

"So you did see her!"

"Shh! You're too loud!" Ichigo smacked Keigo's head, his face was beet red, as he quickly stole a glance toward the auburn haired girl. It seemed she didn't hear it, but the rooftop had always been full of students enjoying their lunch so Ichigo was afraid that someone would overhear their conversation.

"So?" Keigo grinned, tried to lower his voice, "you saw her, didn't you?"

"Well," Ichigo gritted his teeth, annoyed by Keigo's tone, "I did see her... But it wasn't like what you think!" he added quickly, "I didn't confess or anything!"

Mitsuiro had put down his phone for the first time that day, interested in the whole situation, "so, what did you do there, with Inoue?"

Ichigo scowled, "we just talk."

"About what?"

"Don't press your luck, Keigo!"

Keigo started to whine again, "Ichigo! We are best friend, we don't keep secret amongst us!"

"I don't remember being your best friend," Ichigo said coldly, "besides, there was nothing important happened, we just talk okay? And no, I won't give you the detail and it is final!"

"So," Chad tried to hide his smile but failed, "it is private?"

Ichigo decided that his friend would shut up and leave him alone if he said it was private. So he nodded, "yeah. It is private."

.

_"Did you hear? About Inoue and Kurosaki..."_

_"Secret meeting after the school..."_

_"He had been stealing glances to her during lunch time!"_

_"Impossible. What about Ishida?"_

_"Maybe she is two timing?"_

_"Why did she choose the punk over the prince?"_

_"I can't believe it..."_

It didn't take long before the rumor reached the dark haired sewing club captain. When he entered the club room after classes, the members looked at him with different kinds of looks, some looked like they pity the boy while the other looked happy and hopeful—they thought that finally now they had a chance with him. He tried to keep a flat face, those people knew nothing. He hadn't been two-timed—or worst, rejected—by the school idol, in fact, he was the one who had been rejecting the girl. He was sure there had been some kind of misunderstanding about the rumor but he had no plan to tell anybody the truth. It didn't bother him at all, those people could say anything, he wouldn't care.

"So, I have an announcement here," Uryuu's voice was calm as usual, the club members looked at him curiously, wondering what kind of announcement he had, "since I would be busy with the student council, I would have to leave this club. I would still look over the club as an advisor, as I am the founder of this club, but the position as the captain would be given to Inoue-san."

Orihime who had been busy avoiding Uryuu's eyes startled at the mention of her name. The whole eyes in the room were on her now. She pointed herself, "M-me?"

Uryuu nodded, "Yes, since you've been my vice this whole time and I know you can do well as the captain. Is it okay with you?"

Orihime tried to make an eye contact with the boy, "well, uh, of course..."

Uryuu massaged his temple as he heard the girls started whispering to each other. He knew it. There were going to be more rumors about them now.

.

Orihime sighed as she left the club room. The club activity today had been cut short so she still had much time before her part time. So, Uryuu had left the club. He would not be the captain anymore, which meant she could come to the club without worrying about seeing him there. She knew that Uryuu didn't leave the club because of her, but for some reason she still felt bad. Uryuu left the club when the situation had become awkward between them. It was her fault, if only she didn't confess to him... Maybe they could still talk normally now.

She let out another sigh.

"Oomph!"

Orihime's lost her balance and almost fell down to the floor if not for a strong hand caught her arm and pulled her back to the hard surface she had bumped into before. She touched the hard thing with one hand as she balanced herself as her other hand rubbed her nose. It was kind of hurt!

"Are you okay?" grunted some familiar voice.

"Umm," Orihime looked up and saw a grumpy face of a boy, "Kurosaki-kun!" She frowned, still rubbing her nose, "your chest is so hard! I think I broke my nose!"

Ichigo fought the urge to snort, instead he rolled his eyes, "you didn't broke your nose."

"How do you know! Maybe it is broken!" Orihime protested, but before she could say anything more, she realized that his hands were still on her waist and arm, she tilted her head, "well, Kurosaki-kun, you can let go of me, actually..."

Realizing their position, Ichigo quickly let go of the girl, he took a step back with a very red face, "y-you should pay attention when you're walking! You could bumped into people o-or lamp post!"

Orihime giggled, "I did both of those many times. It is a wonder I haven't broken my nose!"

"It is a wonder you're still alive..." Ichigo grunted, he realized that now people were staring at them and he cursed.

"That is not nice, Kurosaki-kun... Cursing is not cool..."

"Now it remind me I have something to talk to you," Ichigo mumbled, eyes wandering to make sure people were not eavesdropping, "do you have time now?"

She did. In fact a lot of time since the club was ended earlier today, there are still few hours before her shift in the bakery. She did have time, but should she go with him? Orihime rubbed her chin, thinking about the possibility of Ichigo being a kidnapper or serial killer. She had been taught by Tatsuki not to follow strangers—she taught her karate too, just in case—since there are so many sick people out there. Ichigo didn't look back to Orihime. She could see he was strong but she could defend herself, besides, Tatsuki said that Ichigo was her friend. Tatsuki's friends must be good people so she decided, it was okay to go with the orange head.

She nodded, "Yup, I have time!"

"Good, let's go!"

With that Ichigo grabbed her smaller hand and pulled her leaving the school building, ignoring so many pairs of eyes following them.

.

_"You mean Ishida Hospital? It is owned by Ishida Uryuu's family."_

_The beautiful high schooler looked at her friend in disbelieve, "really?"_

_Her best friend nodded, "yes, I think his father was a surgeon or something... It is rumored that he often visits the hospital to learn a thing or two, he will inherit the hospital in the future after all..."_

_The girl looked at her friend hopefully, "does he have black unruly hair?"_

_The best friend lifted an eyebrow, "black hair, yes, but unruly... ah, there he is. That guy," she nudged her friend with her elbow, "that guy is Ishida."_

_She turned to look at the guy and a warm feeling fill her chest as she saw him._

_She found him._

_Her prince..._


	4. 3: The Boy and Girl in the rumor 2

There was a rumor spreading around in the Karakura High. Unsurprisingly, the people in the rumor were the famous school idol Orihime Inoue. Surprisingly, the other party in the rumor was the infamous punk Ichigo Kurosaki. Together, both of ginger head was a weird combination. Maybe that was the reason why the rumor was so interesting.

It was unknown how or who started it first but the news had been heard around the school—if not around Karakura—that Orihime Inoue has been going out with Ichigo Kurosaki. It was shocking because first, they had always thought that there must be something going on between the beautiful girl and a certain black haired student council president, and second, because it was Ichigo Kurosaki they were talking about here. A punk who had been rumored to beat the leader of Yamanishi High when he was still in junior high school. There were also rumor about him being arested by police once or twice—though nobody confirmed it. In other word, both of the were two people from two different worlds. The idea of they were seeing each other was just hard to believe.

"If it is so hard to believe then don't even start the rumor."

Ichigo was really annoyed when his friends pestering him about the same thing again this afternoon during lunch. It wasn't like they hadn't tried to confirm it with him before, it was just they weren't satisfied with his answer.

"There were eyewitness saying they saw you together with Inoue," His friend who had been busy with his cellphone this whole time looked up from his phone, "you were having date with her at the Donut King."

Ichigo knew it. There must be people from their school saw them that time. He knew from the start that it wasn't a good idea to talk in such place but he didn't know how he couldn't say no to the girl when she told him she wanted to eat donut as they talked. Now he didn't know what excuse he should tell his friends. He didn't want to explain everything but he wanted this guys to stop asking.

"Well, we did go there but it wasn't a date. It was nothing like that," Ichigo was frustrated, he ran his fingers through his ginger hair, "we talked, and it was nothing like what you guys think..."

"Well," his other friend frowned, "what's it about?"

Ichigo hesitated for a moment, "i-it's private."

"Oh c'mon! Aren't we best friend?"

"Shut up Keigo!"

His other friend with tan skin dan dark hair said something which gained his full attention, "so, the rumor of Inoue cheating on Ishida is not right?"

Ichigo looked at Chad with a scowled, Chad was his best friend, it was unusual for him to be interested in such topic, "well, that isn't true. She isn't cheating anyone, well, she isn't even dating Ishida."

"How do you know about it?" Keigo pointed his finger at Ichigo accusingly.

"Why should I tell you?" barked Ichigo.

"Oh c'mon Ichigo, we want to knooooowwwww..."

Ichigo cursed as he stood up and left his friends. This had become a routine for him. 'Running away' when his friends started to ask too much about the rumor.

Well, _like usual, _he thought, _ I just need to act like usual._

.

"_So, what do you want to talk about, ummm..."_

"_Kurosaki." Ichigo growled as he looked around, making sure that there were no student from their high school around, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki," he grunted, "at least try to remember it."_

_Orihime blinked, she nodded, "Okay then, Kurosaki-kun, I remember your name, I am just distracted by the donuts... So what's it about?"_

_He eyed the girl in front of him took her first bite of the donut. It was her idea to come to the Donut King near the station, he was afraid that there would be their school mates hanging out around there but luckily, so far he had seen nobody from their school. It should be safe, shouldn't it?_

"_I will be straight to the point," Ichigo started, "I am sorry but I heard about your confession..."_

"_Wh—"her mouth was full of donuts, she looked like a hamster._

"_Well," _that wasn't cute, dammit, _Ichigo tried to tell himself, "I didn't mean to, but I overheard your conversation with Uryu Ishida."_

_Orihime nodded, she swallowed her donut and laughed nervously, "ah, that time... ahaha, uh.. yeah, I guess... I am sorry?"_

_Ichigo frowned, he didn't get it, "why are you apologizing?"_

_Orihime smiled shyly as she scratched her cheek with her index finger, avoiding his eyes, "well, you've to see that, it must be something you didn't want to see... or hear. Or anything to do with," she giggled nervously, "I am sorry, okay, Kurosaki-kun?"_

_He didn't think it was right for her to apologize for something like that. If anything it was Uryu who needed to apologize for being a heartless bastard who broke someone's heart without even batting an eyelash. _

"_Whatever," Ichigo grunted, "I just want you to know that i wouldn't tell anyone about it so you don't have to worry about it."_

"_Oh," Orihime blinked few times, so Tatsuki was right, Ichigo was a kind guy. People must have misunderstood him, "thank you, I will be grateful if you do that..."_

_Ichigo nodded. He massaged the back of his neck with one hand. One thing had been settled at least now they needed to get onto the real deal._

"_And about the rumor," he sighed, "to be honest, it is annoying," he cut her in before she could apologize again, "but this was not the first time. I am used to it. I just think that maybe it is annoying for you to be rumored with me, but what I want to tell you is, if we ignored it and act like usual, it would be gone in two weeks top."_

_Orihime laughed, "I am not annoyed!"_

_Her laughter surprisingly sounded really nice to him and he had to slap his head mentally when he almost reached out to wipe the strawberry jam at the corner of her lips._

"_In fact, I am glad that you were not annoyed with the rumor, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime smiled gently, "For now, maybe it is best if we ignored it like what you said, but if anything happened to you, just tell me, I would protect you."_

_He almost laughed._

_That was too cute._

_._

Of course the rumor reached her. Tatsuki had been once again showering her with oh so many questions but so far, the karateka believed in everything she said to her. Well it wasn't like Orihime had been lying about how she knew the carrot top boy, it was just that she left some detail purposedly. She still didn't want Tatsuki knew about the second time she got rejected by Uryuu.

"Okay if you say so," Tatsuki and Orihime were laying on the floor in Orihime's room, they hadn't been spending time together like this lately since both had started their partime job, "I still think that you're hiding something but if you didn't want to tell me, it is Okay... It is not like I forbide you to hang out with Ichigo, anyway, like I have told you before, he is not a bad guy..."

Orihime laughed nervously, she decided to ignore her first comment though, "I know, Kurosaki-kun is nice to me, he bought me donuts the other day..."

"And what were you two doing again?"

The auburn haired school girl sighed, "we talked. Actually, we talked about the rumor... He was kind of disturbed by the rumor and he asked me if we should do something about it. I think, there was nothing we could do, I mean, I don't even know why people spreading such rumor about us... So the best we could do is just to wait until people forget about it."

"They wouldn't forget if you two kept on going on dates together."

"That wasn't a date!"

"Whatever, sitting together eating donut after school and he walked you to the station... It looks like an afterschool date, you know..." Orihime face turned red as she covered her face with her pillow, "I mean, I trust you if you said you were just talking but c'mon let's be real, that's not how it looks from other people's eyes."

"The station was just there! He didn't really walked me to the station," Orihime knew it was useless to explain it to her friend because it wouldn't change the fact that it had become a rumor, "now I feel bad to Kurosaki-kun... he did tell me that he didn't like all of the attention he got from this rumor..."

The dark haired girl snorted, she reached for a magazine and started to open the first page, "as if he hadn't get used to it."

Orihime didn't say anything. Tatsuki might say so, but she still worried about Ichigo. Also about the other guy. She knew that this rumor hadn't been only affecting her and Ichigo but also Uryu. Before this people had misunderstood her relationship with Uryu and now it had become worse that people accusing her to be cheating on him. If Uryu hated her before this, he must be hate her even more now.

She really wanted to apologize but she learned her lesson. She didn't want to make it worse. Uryu wouldn't be happy if she, once again, asked him to talked privately. He made it sure before that he hated her and talking to him right now might just like adding salt on the wound. She didn't like it but she had no choice but to ignore the rumor and move on.

Just like what Ichigo said, they just need to act like usual.

.

Orihime wondered when the gossip would stop. It had been a week and the gossip hadn't stopped, if anything, it became worse. People started to add this and that and new rumor started about how Orihime chose Ichigo because Uryu was boring... in bed. Just thinking about it made the girl's cheeks turned red. How could people talk about that? She hadn't even gotten her first kiss. Besides she didn't think that Uryu was boring. In bed. Or anywhere.

Ever since Uryu left the club in her hand, she had barely seen him anywhere. It seemed like he had been really busy or maybe he simply avoided her. Well she wouldn't blame him if he did that. She had brought nothing but trouble for him. If only she didn't confess to him, maybe this whole thing wouldn't happen. Maybe they would be able to talk like usual.

_But if I hadn't confess, I wouldn't know about his feeling. I would never know that he hates me..._

It was not easy to learn the truth but Orihime preferred it this way. Now that she knew that she was hated, she wouldn't have to expect anything. She wouldn't even show her face in front of him anymore since she knew it would just bother him, a lot, to see her around.

The only thing that bothered her was the rumor. She didn't want him, if possible, to hate her any more than he already had.

Orihime was walking down the school corridor when she heard someone called her name. She knew that voice but she couldn't believe her ears. For a moment, it was like her heart stopped beating.

"Inoue-san, do you have a moment?"

When Orihime turned around, she saw him, Uryu Ishida, standing casually, one hand deep in his pocket as the other pushed up his glasses.

"I-Ishida-kun?" Orihime laughed nervously, she wasn't sure how to talk to him but since she knew he hated her face, she avoided looking at him, "D-do you need something?"

"Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you."

For a reason, Orihime had a hunch what it was about and she didn't feel like she wanted to talk about it but instead she smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, then, follow me, we will not talk here."

.


	5. 4: Three people in the rumor

Ichigo Kurosaki yawned as he took his shoes out of his locker. He hadn't had a good sleep lately at night so he became so sleepy during the day. Today his plan was to get back home as soon as possible and hit the bed. He might skip dinner if he had too, he was just so sleepy. Now that he thought about it, instead of sleeping at night, there had been something bothering his mind.

Orihime Inoue was just a classmate before this. She was the school idol and she was the school infamous punk, never had he thought that one day he would had a chance to get closer to the girl. He had never really paid attention to her before, to him she was just a girl who would never had anything to do with him. Until then one day he had to witness the girl had her heart broken twice… Then he started to think about the girl. Maybe he cared about the girl a bit more that he should have to because she had become the reason why he hadn't slept properly lately.

This morning Orihime acted a little weird when he greeted her a good morning. She smiled awkwardly and quickly left the classroom and didn't come back until the first lesson started. Keigo asked him if he had done something wrong to the girl but Ichigo didn't remember if he had said or did something wrong to the girl. What pissed him off even more was that she didn't give him a chance to ask what had he done to her because apparently the girl was adamant that she shouldn't be anywhere closer than 15 meters away from the boy. For a reason, it annoyed the boy so much.

Sleepy and annoyed, the boy decided to talk to the girl tomorrow. He would ask her what the heck was happening. He didn't want to admit it out loud but he worried about her. She did told him that she wasn't bothered by the rumor flying around about them but now she was clearly avoiding him. He hated to say this but it felt bad when the girl acted like that toward him.

Yawning as he put on his shoes, Ichigo almost missed a small gasp from his back. He turned around to see the girl in his mind was standing there with her back, ready to get her shoes and go home. From her expression he could see that she didn't expect him to be there. He hadn't even opened his mouth when the girl started to run away from him. Cursed mentally, Ichigo lost his sleepiness and started chasing the girl.

_Damn it, _he thought as he sprinted toward the girl, _what did I do to her?_

Despite how she looked, Orihime was the fastest girl in her class. She could run faster than most of the boys in her class but unfortunately Ichigo was the fastest boy in her classroom. Ichigo had never run seriously though when he was timed during P.E class. This, however, was not P.E class and Ichigo had never put this much effort in chasing after someone like this before. He was tired and sleepy but he needed to catch up with the girl and hear her reason for avoiding him this whole day.

This was not something she planned. She didn't expect him to chase after her. He supposed to just let her be, not chasing after her like this. Orihime tried to run faster but too bad, Ichigo was fast and after chasing her for about five minutes, he finally caught up with her in the school backyard.

"Wait! Stop running!"

"Then stop chasing me!"

It was weird. Wasn't she the one who told him that the rumor didn't bother her? She told him that she didn't mind even though people talking about them, then why suddenly she was avoiding him like this? If he had done something wrong toward her, he would want to know because he didn't want her to hate him.

Finally Ichigo grabbed her hand and before he realized what he was doing he pulled her body and hugged her from behind to stop her from running away. She tried to get away from him but he wouldn't let her. Orihime struggled but Ichigo was just too strong for her.

Ichigi gritted his teeth, no matter how she wriggled in his arm he wouldn't let go. Instead of weaken his grip, the way she moved against his body gave him a weird feeling. If only she didn't stop moving it would be bad…

"Stop moving please…." Ichigo grunted, "and I am so sorry, OK? I apologize!"

Orihime stopped moving and chewed her lower lip nervously. She didn't understand why he apologize all of sudden. He hadn't done anything bad to her. If anything, it was her who needed to apologize to him.

"Why did you say sorry?" Orihime felt her face reddened as she became aware of his hard body pressing against her back.

"I don't know, you tell me!" Ichigo frowned, "I don't know what I might have done to you but I must have been doing something bad that makes you avoiding me like this! I don't know what it is but I want you to tell me so I can fix it!"

When Orihime didn't say anything Ichigo cursed silently. He regretted this position they were in right now. If only he could see her face right now he might get to see her expression.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. It was embarrassing but he guessed he had no other choice. He whispered nervously only loud enough for the girl to hear.

"We are friends, aren't we?"

Orihime's heart skip a beat as she felt his warm breath on her reddened ear. She would be lying if she said she wasn't happy when he said that they were friends. She did want to be his friend but after what had happened yesterday she felt that avoiding him was the best thing she could do right now.

"Y-you're unfair Kurosaki-kun…"

.

_Uryuu Ishida had expected that the rumor of him and a certain red headed girl would once again arose. After the second confession from the girl, there were chances that she would tell someone about this which would cause another rumor. However he didn't expect that the rumor would be so far away from the truth. First of all, apparently he had been involved in a love triangle. Not only it was a love triangle but the other man in the crazy scenario was his good for nothing cousin, Ichigo Kurosaki. How the rumor could have been so weird and far from the truth, he didn't know. He knew that for sure Orihime was not cheating on him with his cousin since they were not even dating and for a reason he just couldn't imagine that the girl would have anything to do with his cousin. That was just too confusing, even for him. That was the reason why today he stopped her and asked her directly about the rumor._

_At first he wanted to ignore the rumor. After being rumored to be secretly dating the school idol, Uryuu knew better that it would be wasting his precious time to deny it. That was why this time he also decided to just ignore it. But apparently, the rumor wasn't 100% wrong this time because he had seen that the orang haired cousin of his had been talking with the girl. It seemed like there was something going on between those two and even though he didn't know what happened between those too, he had to admit that it did bother him._

"_Umm… what is it about, Ishida-kun?"_

_The boy sighed as he folded his arms and looked at her with a bored expression on his face, "I bet you have heard about the recent rumor about us. The one saying that we're involved in a triangle love…"_

_Orihime blushed. _

"_Th-that rumor is …."_

_Before she could finish her words he had cut her in, "What is your relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki?"_

_The girl blinked at the question. Coming from Uryuu, it was actually not expected at all. The way he said it didn't seem like he was jealous, besides he had made some point the he didn't have any feeling for her, so why he cared about the rumor? Orihime swallowed nervously. If she had to name it, the relationship she had with the orang haired boy, what would she call it?_

"_Well…" she started carefully, not really wanted to say anythung wrong which might make Uryuu hate her more that he already had, "what does it have to do with Ishida-kun?"_

_She didn't want to sound harsh or rude so she said it as gentle as she could. She really have given up her feeling for him but still she didn't want him to hate her more than now by saying anything wrong. She bit her lip when he narrowed his dark eyes as he sighed. That was not a good sign. Did she give him a wrong answer?_

"_Ichigo Kurosaki is my cousin," there was something cold in the way he mentioned his name it almost made her shiver, "as far as I know, nothing good would happen if you get close to him."_

_Orihime wanted to defend Ichigo but a voice inside her head told her to keep her mouth shut, at least for now. Something she said might be a disadvantage for Ichigo. She didn't say anything and just looked at the boy in front of her. For a moment she wondered what was it again that made her in love with him._

_Ah yes, he was being gentle toward her few years ago in the hospital when her brother died. _

"_I didn't want to be a busy body, but just so you know, this rumor might be nothing for you but it is disturbing me. Do you know what they said about me?" he shook his head as if disgusted with the rumor, "they pity me because _you_ dumped me for _him._ It made me seem so lame, don't you think? And you know what they say about him? They said that he had force you to be with him. Some even said he might have harassed you."_

"_Kurosaki-kun won't do something like that!"_

"_That was not what they believe!" he spat, "If there is nothing between you and him just don't fuel the rumor more than this by keep hanging around him! It doesn't only concern you, ok? Please think about the other parties!"_

_Orihime looked at her feet, his words where like knifes, slicing her heart._

"_I understand…" she said gently, "I will do something about it."_

_._

"So tell me… Do you hate me or something?"

Orihime pouted.

This was not how she planned it. For them to be in this position was not part of her plan. The plan was for her to avoiding him until the rumor goes down but it seemed she couldn't keep it for long. What worse was that if someone saw them in this position… she didn't want to imagine what people would say this time.

"I don't hate you," Orihime sighed, "why would I hate you, you are so nice to me."

"Then why avoiding me?"

Orihime shook her head and blushed, "I want to protect you. They said something really bad about you. If they see us like this, they might think you attacked me."

"Do you think I would do something like that?"

"Of course no!" she panicked, why would he said something like that, "I don't want them to get the wrong idea about you just because of me!"

Ichigo sighed. He started to understand her better and better. This beautiful girl was always so selfless. Why did she care so much about him? Didn't she know that such rumor didn't bother him at all? Those people can say anything they want about him and he would give no fuck.

"I have an idea."

Orihime tried to tilted her head to look at his face but he hugged her too tight for her to move.

"What is it?"

"W-we can pretend to be a lover."

"W-what?!"

Ichigo shrugged, "to fight fire with fire? What do you think?"


End file.
